The Simulacrum

About

The Simulacrum is a single player casual strategy game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Trynet Games and was released on June 24, 2023. It received positive reviews from players.

"The Simulacrum" is a narrative-driven psychological horror game that challenges players to solve puzzles and uncover the truth behind a mysterious experiment. As the player, you'll take on the role of a research assistant working in a secluded facility, tasked with exploring the eerie world of the simulacrum and its enigmatic creator. With each new revelation, the line between reality and simulation blurs further, forcing players to confront their own perceptions and fears.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 123 reviews

gameplay4 positive mentions

grinding2 negative mentions

The game features excellent card randomization, providing a fresh and engaging experience with each playthrough, enhancing replayability.
Delve mode offers a fun roguelike experience where players can build and modify decks, unlocking new cards and characters as they progress.
The game has a unique mechanic of procedurally generated cards, allowing for diverse strategies and unexpected combinations during gameplay.

The user interface and overall presentation are poorly designed, resembling outdated flash games, which detracts from the overall experience.
There is a steep learning curve due to the lack of a proper tutorial, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics and strategies.
The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including card freezing and unresponsive elements, which can disrupt gameplay.

gameplay
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
73%
12%
The gameplay is characterized by a unique delving system that features procedurally generated cards, allowing for a vast array of strategies and combinations. While the tutorial is criticized for its lack of clarity, players appreciate the variety of modes, including constructed and draft play, and the engaging core combat mechanics that blend elements from popular card games. Despite some balance issues and a steep learning curve, the game offers addictive and innovative gameplay with high replay value.
- “The gameplay is mostly a delving system that generates a deck for you, and then creates additional cards as you go through a decision tree to fight battles, meet odd encounters which may mutate your cards, and eventually face off against three bosses.”
- “Incredible game with super deep mechanics and infinite replay value due to the AI generation of the cards.”
- “Strong core mechanics blending auto-battlers, Magic: The Gathering, and Slay the Spire in a unique way.”
- “When you load into the tutorial (which is probably the only bad thing I have to say since it doesn't really explain anything, and it took some playing to learn various mechanics -- see the basic guide written by the dev instead) and complete it, you are presented with a few different modes.”
- “The actual free-play deckbuilding feels meaningless when you set the difficulty for your gameplay with a constructed deck yourself; it would be a much improved game with a ranking per deck and repeated opponents at an adjusted difficulty.”
- “The roguelike/lite portion of the game (delving) can be fickle at times if you get some 'bad' cards, or a battle against an overpowered opponent, but once you get the hang of the mechanics and how events and things play out, it becomes pretty fun.”
replayability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
37%
27%
The game offers significant replayability through its randomization and card collection mechanics, allowing for a nearly infinite variety of gameplay experiences. While some players note that the draft mode could benefit from a larger player base to enhance its depth, the overall mechanics and AI-generated content contribute to a fun and engaging experience that keeps players coming back. Despite some balance issues, the game's unique features and low cost make it a worthwhile investment for those seeking replay value.
- “The matches themselves are fun to play, while the randomization goes beyond novelty and succeeds at providing massive amounts of replayability.”
- “Incredible game with super deep mechanics and infinite replay value due to the AI generation of the cards.”
- “Pretty fun and addicting with theoretically infinite replayability due to randomly generated content (even cards).”
- “Not nearly enough replayability for how ambitious it is, but more than enough to pay for itself many times over.”
- “Draft (delve) is where replayability lies, but you face the same decks too often, the same cards even.”
- “The randomness of the game makes it incredibly replayable, but not always balanced.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
18%
27%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the engaging art style and immersive visuals, while others criticize the rough UI design and animations. Despite these shortcomings, many users are willing to overlook the graphical issues due to the game's innovative gameplay and intriguing card mechanics. Overall, while the graphics may need polish, they are considered functional and appealing by a segment of the player base.
- “This card game with interesting collections of cards and good graphics attracts the attention of fans of this genre of games.”
- “With stunning visuals and intriguing gameplay, it's a must-play!”
- “I love looking at the procedurally-generated artwork, so trippy.”
- “This game is interesting and innovative enough that I'm willing to overlook bad UI design, bad graphics, poorly-worded cards, and weird timing issues (where effects of cards happen before the cards get displayed, for example).”
- “And while I'm very into procedurally-generated gameplay components, I'm also very not into the commercial use of uncredited artwork, or the work generated using it as source material.”
- “Graphics and UI are rough, but if you're getting into this, you're doing so to explore the question: 'What if Magic: The Gathering was modded with a randomizer?'”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
The optimization of the game is polarizing; while some users report excellent performance and compatibility across various systems, others criticize the user experience and overall execution as lacking.
- “The game is well optimized and has unique mechanics.”
- “Performance-wise, the game runs fine on almost anything.”
- “Terrible UX/UI, terrible performance, terrible everything.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is praised for its immersive atmosphere, complemented by intuitive controls that enhance the overall experience.
- “The atmosphere is incredibly immersive, drawing you into the game's world.”
- “Every detail contributes to a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere that keeps you on edge.”
- “The sound design and visuals create a captivating atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by the interesting and occasionally funny bosses, contributing to an engaging experience alongside its nice and minimalistic design.
- “The humor in the game is cleverly woven into the dialogue and character interactions, making every encounter enjoyable.”
- “I love how the game balances challenging gameplay with hilarious moments that keep me laughing.”
- “The quirky characters and their funny antics add a delightful charm to the overall experience.”
story
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The game's storyline is described as engaging and intriguing, though some players feel it lacks a cohesive narrative, relying instead on the lore of individual bosses. While this lore may appeal to some, others desire a more developed story and enhanced audio elements to enrich the experience.
- “Engaging and intriguing storyline.”
- “The bosses you encounter have lore behind each of them, adding depth to the game.”
- “The game could definitely benefit from a more developed story.”
- “There isn't really a story to the game, but the bosses you find have lore behind each of them (which I'm personally not invested in, but some of you might've wanted more of that).”
- “It could definitely use some music and sound effects as well as a story.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate that the game simplifies matches into quick, strategic combats, reducing the tedium often associated with grinding. However, the process of acquiring cards through buying singles and random packs is seen as tedious, with limited options for spending in-game currency. Overall, the grinding aspect is considered manageable but could be improved.
- “Buying singles and random packs is just a tedious way to get cards, leaving no good way to spend your gold.”
stability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game is generally enjoyable, but it suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent bugs that can cause cards to freeze and become unplayable, indicating a need for substantial improvements.
- “Not a terrible game, very buggy. It definitely needs a lot of work as some cards straight up freeze and then clog up your hand as unplayable, but overall it's fun.”
music
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users feel that the game lacks sufficient music and sound effects, suggesting that these elements, along with a narrative, would enhance the overall experience.
- “It could definitely use some music and sound effects as well as a story.”